A Survey of Fungal Diversity in Northeast Ohio
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Date
2003-04
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Abstract
Threats to our natural areas come from several sources; this problem is all too familiar in northeast Ohio. One of the goals of the Geauga County Park District is to protect high quality natural areas from rapidly encroaching development. One measure of an ecosystem's importance, as well as overall health, is in the biodiversity present. Furthermore, once the species diversity is assessed, this can be used to monitor the well-being of the ecosystem into the future. Currently, a paucity of information exists on the diversity of higher fungi in northern Ohio. The purpose of this two-year investigation was to inventory species of macrofungi present within The West Woods Park (Geauga Co., OH) and to evaluate overall diversity among different taxonomic groups of fungi present. Fruit bodies of Basidiomycetous and Ascomycetous fungi were collected weekly throughout the 2000 and 2001 growing seasons, identified using taxonomic keys, and photographed. At least 134 species from 30 families of Basidiomycetous fungi and at least 19 species from 11 families of Ascomycetous fungi were positively identified during this study. The results of this study were more extensive than from those of any previous survey in northeast Ohio. These findings point out the importance of The West Woods ecosystem to biodiversity of fungi in particular, possibly to overall biodiversity in general, and as an invaluable preserve for the northeast Ohio region.
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Author Institution: Biology Department, Dauby Science Center, Ursuline College
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The Ohio Journal of Science. v103, n2 (April, 2003), 29-32